September 17, 2026 | Sarasota, FL. — Global icon and Selby Gardens Artist in Residence Patti Smith returns to Selby Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus on October 13, 2026, at 7 p.m. for a special performance honoring the renowned poet, Emily Dickinson.
The one-hour performance, An Evening with Patti Smith Dedicated to Emily Dickinson, is in celebration of the upcoming exhibition New Feet Within my Garden Go: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson at the Historic Spanish Point campus, on view November 21, 2026, through August 29, 2027.
Advance tickets for the performance will go on sale for Selby Gardens’ Members on Monday, September 21. The remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. To purchase tickets, or to become a member, visit selby.org.
This is Smith’s eighth visit to Selby Gardens. Her visits have combined public activities such as readings and performances with private time drawing creative inspiration from the organization’s two bayfront campuses and world-renowned collections. In addition, Smith’s iconic voice can be heard at the Jean Goldstein Welcome Center, where she narrates a visitor orientation video in the Ernie Kretzmer & Family Theater.
Jennifer Rominiecki, President and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, shared, “It is a true privilege to welcome Patti Smith back to Selby Gardens. Her singular voice and extraordinary artistry have a remarkable ability to connect us with poetry, with nature, and with the world around us. We look forward to sharing this intimate and inspiring experience with our community.”
Smith’s blossoming relationship with Selby Gardens stems from the Gardens’ 2022 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light. The show explored Mapplethorpe’s flower photography and Smith’s lyrics and poetry about flowers and nature, in dialogue with original horticultural installations inspired by their art.
Smith first visited Selby Gardens in February 2022 to tour Flowers, Poetry, and Light and perform songs and readings she selected to complement the exhibition. She called the interdisciplinary show “a beguiling exhibition” and said she “was very moved to be asked to be a part of it.” Smith returned in April 2022 for a second live performance, at which the new residency was announced. In November 2023, Smith returned with An Evening with Patti Smith Dedicated to Georgia O’Keeffe, as a prelude to the Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, Yayoi Kusama: A Letter to Georgia O’Keeffe and for an encore performance in February 2024.
In February 2025, Smith returned with a special performance, An Evening with Patti Smith Dedicated to George Harrison, in celebration of the ninth annual Goldstein exhibition, George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life, followed by a January 2026 performance in honor of the exhibit inspired and narrated by Patti Smith herself, Robert Louis Stevenson: A Child’s Garden of Verses, at the Historic Spanish Point campus.
Presenting Sponsor of the Patti Smith Residency: Marianne and William McComb
Presenting Exhibition Sponsor: A. Hamilton and Edith T. Gardner Fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation
About Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history. Established by forward-thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Sarasota campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment. Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus features the world’s first net positive energy botanical garden complex, generating more energy than it consumes. The Historic Spanish Point campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. One of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants and active archaeology that is interpreted for and open to the public, it celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida history. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is also accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Selby Gardens was selected for Time magazine’s annual list of the “World’s Greatest Places 2024.” For more information visit www.selby.org.
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